A few months ago, Hong Kong-ers are talking about which mask best guards us from teargas, after 7 months, we are still discussing about mask, but now about which one can guard us against a new pneumonia originating from Wuhan, China.
The deadly new coronavirus outbreak remind us of SARS in 2003, started in the Chinese city of Wuhan, and has entered the stage of transmission among families and hospital, it is a full-blown community epidemic. We are all terrified because this new virus reminds us of how the Chinese government covered up the severity of SARS (Severe acute respiratory syndrome) which infected 8,098 people and took away 774 lives across 30 countries in 2003.
In 2003, the outbreak of SARS was traced to the selling of wild animal, like snakes, civet cats and bats in wet markets in China’s Southern Guangdong province, and the first patient was infected after preparing for a meal of chicken, cat and snake, and later infected others. During the initial stages of the outbreak, the Chinese government concealed information from the public, limiting mitigation efforts and exacerbating the spread of SARS.
Chinese government did not notified the WHO of SARS until February 2003, allowing it to flourish and spread to Hong Kong, infecting 1,755 people and took away 299 lives. I was just a kid at the time, I remember school was cancelled and I was staring at the news everyday for updates on infection and death numbers, I can still recall how desperate we were.
Similar to SARS, the Huanan Seafood Market, which sells meat is sold alongside live animals like dogs, hares, and civets, in Wuhan is thought to be the starting point for the virus outbreak. A week earlier, Chinese government claimed the outbreak of the Wuhan-virus was “preventable and controllable” and this week it was forced to admit that the virus was able to spread person-to-person and there are cases of infection were reported by people who never set foot in Wuhan. However, Chinese were being arrested by authorities and were accused of spreading rumours about the Wuhan-virus, despite it was officially acknowledged.
More worryingly, the Chinese authorities have decided to shut down outbound transportation from Wuhan on Thursday morning, citizens of Wuhan were rushing to leave the city by trains or airplanes to go to other cities or countries despite having fever or other symptoms of pneumonia, suggesting a massive outbreak is imminent.
There are cases of Wuhan-virus infection reported in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, the US and France, scientists suspected that there may be 1,000 to 2,300 actual infections since December 2019, which are significantly higher than those 550 confirmed cases released by Chinese government so far. It is very likely that the Chinese government attempts to cover up the Wuhan-virus. It is the most irresponsible thing a government can do to its people and other states in the world. Lives of citizens and medical personnel are at stake because of the Chinese government’s attempt to cover up the severity of the virus, instead of protecting them.
It worries me to see this highly contagious Wuhan-virus have infected people in Europe, and I fear there will be more cases after Lunar New Year as many Chinese students will travel back to Europe from China after the holidays, increasing the risk of the virus being transmitted into Europe.
To protect yourself and your community from this epidemic, please wear a mask in public. The last thing I’d like to see is another similar outbreak of disease like SARS in anywhere in the world.
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